A Distributed Pareto-based Path Planning Algorithm for Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (Extended Abstract)

Scientific Conference (2021, January 07)

Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are in increasing demand thanks to their applicability in a wide range of domains. However, to fully exploit such potential, UAVs should be capable of ... [more ▼]

Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are in increasing demand thanks to their applicability in a wide range of domains. However, to fully exploit such potential, UAVs should be capable of intelligently planning their collision-free paths as that impacts greatly the execution quality of their applications. While being a problem well addressed in literature, most presented solutions are either computationally complex centralised approaches or ones not suitable for the multiobjective requirements of most UAV use-cases. This extended abstract introduces ongoing research on a novel distributed Pareto path planning algorithm incorporating a dynamic multi-criteria decision matrix allowing each UAV to plan its collision-free path relying on local knowledge gained via digital stigmergy. The article presents some initial simulations results of a distributed UAV Traffic Management system (UTM) on a weighted multilayer network. [less ▲]

A Multilayer Low-Altitude Airspace Model for UAV Traffic Management

in Samir Labib, Nader; Danoy, Grégoire; Musial, Jedrzej (Eds.) et al 9th ACM Symposium on Design and Analysis of Intelligent Vehicular Networks and Applications (DIVANet '19) (2019, November)

Over the recent years, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles' (UAVs) technology developed rapidly. In turn shedding light on a wide range of potential civil and commercial applications ranging from mapping and ... [more ▼]

Over the recent years, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles' (UAVs) technology developed rapidly. In turn shedding light on a wide range of potential civil and commercial applications ranging from mapping and surveillance, parcel delivery to more demanding ones that require UAVs to operate in heterogeneous swarms. However, with the great advantages UAVs bring, they are expected to soon dominate the shared, low-altitude airspace over populated cities, introducing multiple new research challenges in safely managing the unprecedented traffic demands. The main contribution of this work is addressing the complex problem of UAV traffic management at an abstract level by proposing a structure for the uncontrolled low-altitude airspace. The paper proposes a model of the airspace as a weighted multilayer network of nodes and airways and presents a set of experimental simulations of UAV traffic for the verification and validation of the model. Finally, the paper outlines our intended future work. [less ▲]

Technical report on data protection and privacy in smart ICT: Internet of Things: Gap analysis between scientific research and technical standardisation: Gap analysis Internet of Things

in Technical report on data protection and privacy in smart ICT (2019), 1

With the emergence of new digital trends like the Internet of Things (IoT), more industry actors and technical committees pursue research in utilizing such technologies as they promise better and ... [more ▼]

With the emergence of new digital trends like the Internet of Things (IoT), more industry actors and technical committees pursue research in utilizing such technologies as they promise better and optimized management, improved energy efficiency and better quality living by facilitating a magnitude of value-added services. However, as communication, sensing and actuation become increasingly sophisticated, such promising data-driven IoT systems generate, process, and exchange larger amounts of data, some of which is privacy-sensitive and security-critical. The sustained increase in number of connected devices, catalyzed by IoT, affirms the importance of addressing data protection, privacy and security challenges, as indices of trust, to achieve market acceptance. This consequently, emphasizes the need of a solid technical and regulatory foundation to ensure trustworthiness within the IoT ecosystem. The goal of this study is to first introduce the concept of trustworthiness in IoT with its main pillars, data protection, privacy and security, and then analyze developments in research and standardization for each of these. The study presents a gap analysis on data protection, privacy and security between research and standardization, throughout which the use case of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) is referred to, as a promising value-added service example of mobile IoT devices. The study concludes with suggestions for future research and standardization in order to address the identified gaps. [less ▲]

On Standardised UAV Localisation and Tracking Systems in Smart Cities

Poster (2018, May)

In the near future, more than two thirds of the world’s population is expected to be living in cities and hence, with the aim of being proactive and finding innovative and sustainable solutions ... [more ▼]

In the near future, more than two thirds of the world’s population is expected to be living in cities and hence, with the aim of being proactive and finding innovative and sustainable solutions, governments have made smart cities one of their priority areas of research. Smart cities are sustainable, inclusive and prosperous greener cities that foster enabling smart Information and Communication Technologies (smart ICT) like Internet-of-Things (IoT), cloud computing and big data to facilitate services such as mobility, governance, utility and energy management. As these services depend heavily on data collected by sensors, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have quickly become one of the promising IoT devices for smart cities thanks to their mobility, agility and customizability of onboard sensors. UAVs found use in a wide array of applications expanding beyond military to more commercial ones, ranging from monitoring, surveillance, mapping to parcel delivery and more demanding applications that require UAVs to operate in heterogeneous swarms in a shared low-altitude airspace over populated cities. However, as the number of UAVs continues to grow and as their sensing, actuation, communication and control capabilities become increasingly sophisticated, UAV deployment in smart cities is faced with a set of fundamental challenges in their safe operation and management. These challenges emphasize the need for establishing globally-harmonised regulations and internationally-agreed-upon technical standards to govern the rapid technological advancements, as well as ensure a fair economy by encouraging market competition and lowering barriers to entry for newcomers. As various Standardisation Development Organisations (SDOs) recently recognised the need, importance and potential of such regulations, most have established dedicated working groups addressing UAVs. However, most current SDO committees focus on aspects such as vehicle categorisation, specifications and operational procedures, but one usually overlooked elementary topic is UAV localisation. Due to its importance and close relation to other technical subsystems, the lack of a resilient, scalable and efficient standardised UAV localisation and tracking system is one of the main obstructing barriers hindering the integration and interoperability of UAV swarms in smart cities and hence impeding the realisation of their vast application benefits. In this work, we focus on studying the fundamental technical requirements, specifications and functions of such UAV localisation and tracking system, and explore its relationship to and importance in 1) optimising path planning, flight scheduling and utilising shared airspace, 2) collision avoidance and conflict resolution in highly populated residential areas and 3) addressing privacy and data protection concerns that could arise from UAV monitoring and surveillance applications. Furthermore, for each of the three aspects, we analyse current SDOs efforts such as those put forth by EASA, EUROCAE WG73 and ISO TC20/SC16 on UAV systems, ISO JTC1/SC41 on IoT and related technologies and ISO JTC1/SC27, EU Directive 95/46 EC and GDPR on security, privacy and data protection, in order to identify and prioritise future research questions in relation to UAV localisation, aiming to make a contribution towards narrowing the gap between research and existing technical standards by encouraging multimode standardisation. This research was conducted in collaboration with ILNAS - the Institut Luxembourgeois de la Normalisation, de l’Accréditation, de la Sécurité et qualité des produits et services (ILNAS) under the authority of the Minister of Economy, Luxembourg. [less ▲]